Jordan Peele’s 2017 ‘Get Out’ redefined the horror genre. The racial thriller follows a young Black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) as he spends the weekend with his white girlfriend Rose’s aggressively ‘non-racist’ family.
Pose is my go-to TV recommendation whenever anyone asks me for one, so I thought I’d publicly broadcast my love for it this Black History Month. The show is set in 1980s (and early ’90s in season two), and showcases the Black and Latino LGBT ballroom scene, which was the forerunner of drag culture as we know it today.
Edward Yang’s 2000 film for which he won Best Director at Cannes is witty and deeply heartfelt – the menial problems of everyday life are brought before the camera with overwhelming love and care. Over this quarantine, I decided I would watch as many films as I could (which ended up being well over a hundred) and in the process discovered this film. The almost-three-hour drama deals with the life of an ordinary Taiwanese family at the turn of the millennium. Yang brilliantly demonstrates different stages of life, and while his style might feel quite reserved, there is nothing reserved about his commentary on the half-truths of life. Warning: spoilers ahead.
The Breakfast Club is seen as one of the most iconic films from the 80s. This coming of age classic explores the experiences of five teenagers forming an unlikely friendship in detention despite their obvious popularity differences and separate cliques. Breaking their high school stereotypes through dance breaks and sincere conversations, finally seeing each other as equals. And I hate it.
This year, in light of Covid-19, the annual Hay Literature festival which normally takes place in the early summer in Wales, remodelled itself to fit the digital requirements of the current global pandemic. Thousands joined a live-stream each evening to take part in the events. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth’s birth, a stellar cast including the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones, Stephen Fry and Tom Hollander came together to recite a selection of his most famous works.
